Participant 21

“Participant 21” lost two daughters to HIV, and cares for their children. A third daughter is also HIV-positive. She encourages parents to accept their children.

I am a 61 year old who lost children, 2 daughters: 1 in 1999 and 1 in 2005. And [they both] were infected by HIV. The eldest daughter left me with 2 children who are now at the age of 25 and a boy of 13. Fortunately they are not infected. The second daughter died in 2005. [She] also left 2 children, a boy of 20 and another boy who is now 4 years. I struggle to raise them, but with the help of Ikamva I do survive. I was very hurt, but what can I do? The d[i]sease is here and everybody must accept the fact that it is here. I miss my daughter. I pray to God that I can live longer to take care of the little ones, because I am the only hope for them.

I have [a] third daughter who is 31. [S]he is also infected. I sometimes think that I am cursed, but again I know that is not the fact. It is just that we must be careful, and try [to] educate our children about HIV. To the parents out there, I would like to send a message: Accept your children and support them. They need you as a parent to give them hope.

I would like to plea to everybody: let us hold hands as parents and support one another in this pandemic. We have become carers and I support them out of my little pension. Its not enough but I survive.

Beauty’s Vineyard

Originally, ten scholarly essays were published on this blog. These essays discussed how Christian theology can positively inform response to HIV/AIDS, as informed by theological aesthetics. In short, they were crafting a socially engaged theology of Beauty. Those essays have now been greatly expanded and published under the title, Beauty's Vineyard: A Theological Aesthetic of Anguish and Anticipation (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2016).